I want more than that
by Moltie
Summary: Oh Nico, don't go and make enemies of the wrong kind. Even when you've got a bad crush. NOT SURE IF I WILL CONTINUE THIS


He tried not to look at him. Percy had been out in the field for three months, some kind of secret mission thing that only a few people knew about and Nico had not been told what it was. He had only been told that it indeed was a mission that kept Percy away from camp for one simple reason, and that was because he was one of the first to realize that Percy was gone. Of course he had been. He felt stupid. He didn't think that it was that bad, that he needed him that much, but here he was. And now seeing Percy back made it even harder to not just rush to him, in front of everybody else at camp, and show him how much he needed him. He shrugged, and tried to get it out of his head. It wasn't even supposed to be like this, and he wasn't obviously on Percy's mind at all. He could see Annabeth walk up to Percy, her hand on his arm and Nico looked away, feeling tears burning behind the eyes. Like it wasn't enough pain to know that he preferred her over him. Did they have to show it like this?

Chiron walked over to Percy and said something to him, it only sounded like murmur to Nico since he was too far away, but he didn't care. He just wished dinner would end so he could go back to his cabin and wish the ground could swallow him whole. Well, in theory he could make that happen to himself, but wishing someone else would do it for him felt so much better. He watched Percy smiling, and laughing. Having fun with the rest of the campers that were happy that he had returned, and even better, returned alive. Nico sighed and got up from his table. He doubted that anyone would notice that he left early. They were all super busy.

He was heading back to the cabin when he felt that maybe a walk in the woods would make him feel better, and he changed direction and started to walk over to the woods instead, ignoring the quiet voice in his head telling him that it was not very wise to walk around by himself when he didn't know if there could be monsters out there. He needed the risk. Right now all the built up anger he felt rising inside of him could feel better with just a really good fight. He almost wished something scary and awful would jump out of the forest and attack him.

"Oh poor boy. Love can be so difficult."

Nico turned around, sword out, half expecting to really see some evil monster behind him. It wasn't though. It was a lady, so beautiful she almost appeared to be glowing in the dull moonlight. Nico lowered the sword. She giggled.

"Oh my, don't rush to violence boy. It won't help you here. I could feel your feelings from waay over there. Now now. Wanna tell me all about it?"

Nico swallowed. She was beautiful, indeed beautiful, but for some reason she scared him more than any monsters he had ever encountred.

"Who are you?"

She giggled again, and took a few steps closer to him.

"I'd thought you'd figured it out by now, darling. I'm Aphrodite, goddess of love."

Nico had never met a goddess like her before, and he didn't know how to react. For some reason he suddenly actually felt scared, like what she was doing was way worse than a monster attacking. Like she was getting inside him, looking through all the thoughts he tried to keep hidden from the outside world. He could feel how he blushed. She smiled again, putting a hand on his shoulder. Nico felt like a lightning bolt passed through his body, making him dizzy and suddenly very aware of every feeling he had.

"I… I have nothing to talk to you about. What are you doing here?"

"Nico, please." Aphrodite looked at him. "Don't treat me like some silly teenage girl please. I know your feelings for Percy. And I must say, I find it interesting. A drama like this, I've not seen since… Well, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this!"

Nico felt angry all of a sudden.

"Well I'm not gonna be some actor in your real life soap opera. I know you've always rooted for those two. I know you rushed to Percy's aid 8 years ago."

Aphrodite took a few steps back, like she'd been slapped in the face. Nico got nervous. Maybe it wasn't smart to make the goddess of love angry.

"Oooh you really got it bad, don't you? I can help you with that. I could make him yours, you know."

Nico felt like his heart stopped.

"What? Love magic? No thanks, I don't believe in stuff like that. And it's not real, if it did worked."

"Don't think of it like magic… Just a little help. And sometimes you just have to manipulate a few things for it to go your way. I could just…"

"No, stop. Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?"

"Nico, Nico." Aphrodite shook her head, acting like she was talking to a three year old. "I just wanna help you."

"Uhm… No. Tell me what's behind it all."

"Fine." Aphrodite spat and suddenly she looked really angry, like her eyes was on fire. Nico took a few steps back. "If you must know, I wanna get back at Athena. And what better way is there than to go through her children? I want them to suffer."

"That's it?" Nico couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want me to play a part in your personal vendetta? No thanks. This is real for me."

"Now listen to me." Aphrodite grabbed his arm with such strength that Nico was surprised. "I'm trying to give you a chance here. You help me, I help you. We're all happy. I know your feelings Nico, you want them to split up, you want it to be your bed Percy gets into tonight instead of hers, when you see them touching you wish it was you feeling his hands all over you and I could give you all that. And you don't even have to do anything you don't like. You could be with the man you love Nico." Suddenly her expression softened, and Nico felt like everything was right. "Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

Nico thought about it. To have Percy. The two of them, together. He couldn't think of anything he wanted more. But he looked deep into Aphrodite's eyes.

"No. You'll have to get your revenge some other way. I don't do revenge anymore. I've gotten passed that."

Aphrodite looked like she was gonna explode and Nico wouldn't be surprised if she'd vaporized him right there, right now.

"You'll regret this, son of Hades." She raged and the ground started shaking. "You do not mess with me. I'll get you one day."

Nico closed his eyes and just in time to avoid looking at Aphrodite transform into goddess form and disappear. He wondered how many of the campers that had seen that.

He had a feeling he would never be able to rest again, ever in his life.


End file.
